Defenders of the Force Episode 7 - The Other World
by EsmeAmelia
Summary: On Jaina and Jacen's sixteenth birthday, the Solo children, Mae Skywalker, and Tamyra Offee are mysteriously thrust into a world where the galaxy is ruled by a new Emperor. Seventh story in a series featuring Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, the droids, and OCs. Episode complete.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Thanks again to everyone who's been following this series. I still don't own Star Wars, but you knew that. Anyway, this episode was inspired by Star Trek, Justice League, and just about every other TV show with an "evil alternate dimension" episode.

"Defenders of the Force Episode 7: The Other World"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 1

When Han was released from the hospital, the medical droids advised him to stay at home and get as much rest as possible, but a week later he and Leia showed up at the Jedi Academy's cafeteria. Regardless of whether or not he was recently in a coma, he wasn't going to miss his twins' birthday.

"Hey Han!" Lando called the instant he arrived. "Look who's out and about!" He poked his friend's arm in a playful manner. "You old pirate, you had the whole galaxy terrified for a while."

"Yeah, well I survived carbon freezing, didn't I?" said Han, returning the poke. "Glad you could come to the party."

"You think I'd miss the twins' sweet sixteenth?" said Lando. "Bein' a general doesn't mean you can't have some fun once in a while."

Luke and Rianna always decorated the cafeteria when a student (or in today's case, students) had a birthday, which meant there were holobanners wishing Jaina and Jacen a happy birthday, candy cups on the tables, and balloons tied to the chairs. Not only that, but lunch hour was going to be expanded to two hours so they could properly celebrate.

"They're sixteen," Leia murmured as she gazed up at the banners. "How does time go so fast?"

Just then Chewie burst into the cafeteria, holding a present in each paw. After placing the presents on a table, he rushed over to Leia and Han and gathered them both up in a tight Wookiee hug. [Congratulations on your cubs turning sixteen! I can't believe it – it seems like just yesterday they were babies.]

"I know," Han said in a muffled voice under Chewie's arm. "Thanks, pal."

Before long, the teachers came filing into the room – Luke, Rianna, Ahsoka, and the droids among them. Owen was skipping along to the side, having been given permission to take the two hours off from school for his cousins' birthday party.

"Han!" Luke exclaimed when he saw his brother-in-law. "Shouldn't you be sitting down?"

"Oh dear," said 3PO, hobbling up to Han. "Master Han, since you have recently been in a coma, I must advise that you go home at once. After all it would be quite a disaster if you were to collapse during the birthday party."

"I ain't gonna collapse," said Han. "And I sure as hell ain't gonna miss my kids' birthday."

"But Master Han . . ." 3PO began, but fortunately he was interrupted by the students pouring in.

The instant Jaina and Jacen saw their parents, they came running up to them.

"Happy Birthday, sweethearts!" Leia exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around her twins, both of whom were taller than her.

"Thanks Mom," said Jacen.

"Yeah kids, Happy Birthday," said Han, taking his own turn to hug his children.

"Dad, shouldn't you be at home?" Jaina asked.

Han groaned and rolled his eyes. "Is _everyone_ gonna ask me that?" He cocked his head at his daughter. "Sides, didn't _someone_ get her speeder license the other day?"

Jaina gave an embarrassed grin.

"I mean," Han continued, "I was gonna let that person borrow Dad's speeder to go home in, but if she's not interested . . ."

"Okay, Dad," Jaina said as her embarrassed grin grew wider. "You can stay." She shifted her eyes. "Did you mean it? Can I _really_ borrow your speeder?"

"Maybe."

"Attention everyone!" came Luke's voice booming out of the speakers, causing all heads to turn towards the east wall, where he was standing in front of the Coruscant view and holding a microphone. "Attention!" he repeated. "Thank you. Now, as many of you know, my niece Jaina and nephew Jacen are celebrating their sixteenth birthday today, and as such we have an extended lunch break so we can celebrate! After lunch there will be cake and presents, so let's all have a good time. Happy Birthday Jaina and Jacen!"

"Happy Birthday!" the crowd repeated.

. . .

"Hey guys, wait up!"

Mae, Anakin, and Tamyra all turned to find Jaina and Jacen following them, elbowing their way through the students wanting to head on home.

"What's up?" asked Anakin. "Is there leftover cake?"

"Unfortunately, no," said Jacen, grinning at his younger brother.

" _But_ there's something even better!" said Jaina, bearing a wide grin similar to her father's. "You know how I got my speeder license the other day?"

"Yeah?" said Mae, her eyes shifting cautiously.

"Well . . ." said Jaina, her grin unwavering, "Dad just said I could use his speeder to drive us home!" She put her hands behind her back, leaning forward slightly, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. "So what do you say? Wanna come with us?"

"That would be rather pointless," said Tamyra, "since I live here."

"Then think of it as going for a ride," Jaina persisted. "I could take you back here after I drop the others off."

Anakin's teeth were rubbing against his lower lip. "Is Dad gonna be with us?"

"Nope!" said Jaina. "He's going home with Mom. I'll be driving – if you'll excuse the expression – _solo."_

Mae didn't think riding along on someone's very first solo drive sounded like fun, but she couldn't find it in herself to say no when her cousin was so excited.

"Come on," said Jacen, "what could happen?"

Mae thought of a number of unpleasant things that could happen, but then again, Jaina had been taught to fly by Han Solo, generally considered one of the best pilots in the galaxy. She probably already knew the tricks to driving a speeder.

"All right," said Mae, "I'll come." She glanced at Anakin and Tamyra. "What about you guys?"

"I'll come too," said Anakin.

Tamyra shrugged. "Why not? It will be a change of pace, at least."

. . .

It was only a few minutes after the group of five left the temple when a sudden thunderstorm struck, the rain hammering on the speeder's roof, the wind tilting it this way and that, always threatening to send it out of control. The lights of the other speeders outside blurred and expanded in the rain, looking like tiny suns moving every which-way.

" _Why_ did I agree to come with you again?" Anakin shouted.

"I was just wondering that myself," said Mae.

"Come on," said Jaina, gritting her teeth. "It's just a little rain."

"A _little_ rain?" exclaimed Tamyra. "It sounds like the whole sky is going to fall on us!"

A long, loud burst of thunder interrupted the bickering, irritating every ear.

"Now it sounds like the sky is cracking in half," said Tamyra.

"We're okay," Jaina insisted. "We're okay."

The speeder rocked back and forth in the wind, further and further with each swing until it felt like they might fall out of their seats. Mae was finding herself becoming increasingly thankful for her safety restraint, though it was starting to dig into her waist every time the speeder tilted.

"Jaina," Jacen said in a stuttering voice, "don't you think we might want to pull over somewhere and wait the storm out?"

"Why?" said Jaina. "I've got it under control, I've . . ."

Another burst of thunder sounded, this one so loud that it made the entire speeder vibrate and forced everyone to cover their ears. Pain shot in Mae's ears, back and forth as if it were passing through her skull.

"Hang on!" Jaina shouted. "I think we're going down!"

"WHAT?" everyone else exclaimed.

"Just what I said!" Jaina's voice finally sounded panicked. "We're going . . ."

And the speeder crashed.

. . .

"That's it," said Anakin as they crawled out of the speeder, "I'm NEVER getting on a speeder with you again.

"I just don't wanna be there when Dad finds out you crashed his speeder," said Jacen.

"Oh come _on_ ," said Jaina. "Dad and I can fix it in a jiffy."

Mae struggled to her feet and pushed her wet hair out of her face, squinting at Coruscant's ever-shining lights through the rain. "So . . . where are we, exactly?"

Tamyra's breath was heavy. "Something's wrong," she said in a soft voice.

"Well _yeah_ something's wrong," said Anakin. "We're stranded in the middle of _nowhere_ in the _rain."_

Jaina groaned. "Look, all we need to do is call a cab and we'll be fine."

"No, wait," said Tamyra, her blind eyes blinking rapidly. "Something _else_ is wrong, I can feel it."

Just then, a small group of white-armored men came marching down the street, making all their eyes widen. Mae's heart started racing and her breath became shallow. No, no, this wasn't right. _They_ didn't exist anymore . . . they hadn't existed since before she was born . . .

"Are those . . ." Anakin whispered, ". . . _stormtroopers?"_

Within a moment, the armored men had surrounded the five teenagers, raising their blasters at them. "Halt!" one of them called.

Jaina gulped as she stepped to the front of the group. "Uh . . . hi. Um, are you guys going to a costume party or something? Well, our speeder crashed and we just need to call a cab and then we'll be on our way . . ."

One of the men dressed as a stormtrooper noticed the lightsaber dangling from Jaina's belt. "Unregistered lightsaber!" he shouted.

"What?" Jacen exclaimed.

"Another one!" shouted another of the stormtrooper-dressed men.

"You're under arrest," the man in the center immediately said. "The Empire forbids any unregistered lightsabers."

"What kind of costume party are you going to?" exclaimed Anakin. "Are you in one of those weird role-playing clubs or something?"

"Quiet!" shouted a trooper as the circle of blasters leaned in closer to them. "Get in a line and put your hands behind your heads, NOW!"

His tone was enough to startle the group into putting their hands behind their heads, but before they could line up, blaster shots came firing through the air – and they didn't come from the stormtroopers.

Another man came leaping in, a tan cloth wrapped around his head and face, a blaster rapidly firing in his right hand. The stormtroopers attempted to return the fire, but the man was both agile and a better shot than they were. Within a minute, all the troopers had fallen.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Jaina exclaimed.

The man turned to face the group and peeled enough of the cloth down to let them see his hazel eyes. "C'mon kids," he said In Han's voice, "you'd better follow me if you wanna live."

"Dad?" exclaimed Jacen. "What the hell's going on?"

Han cocked his head. "Dad? Kid, you look too young for that – I stopped doin' that sorta thing almost twenty years ago. Now c'mon."

"What?" the entire group exclaimed in unison.

Mae quickly brushed the man who had Han's voice with the Force . . . and he matched the Force signature of her uncle, but she also sensed that he didn't recognize any of them. "Wait," she said quickly, trying to keep her breath steady, "you _are_ Han Solo, right?"

The man suddenly darted his head from side to side as if he thought he was about to be attacked. "Shh, shh, SHH!" He clapped his hand over Mae's mouth. "Look kid," he whispered in a harsh voice, "I dunno how you know my name, but you'd better not go blabbin' it or we're all gonna be in _big_ trouble, got that?"

Mae's eyes grew so wide that she felt them starting to dry despite the rain dripping down her face. Why didn't he recognize them? She had just seen him at the birthday party and he seemed perfectly fine. Did his recent coma do something to his brain? Maybe, but that didn't explain the presence of people dressed as stormtroopers who seemed to actually believe they worked for the Empire.

"Now c'mon," said Han after he released Mae's mouth. "I gotta speeder parked just around the corner. We should be able to get to it if we don't run into any more Imperials." He turned around and drew his blaster, holding it in front of him in a protective stance. "Well, are you coming?"

Jaina looked at the others before talking. "Er . . . I guess."

The group hesitantly starting following the man with Han's voice and Force signature through the lightening rain, but Mae stopped short when she noticed a news bulletin was playing on one of Coruscant's large hovering screens.

"Sit tight," said the newscaster, "the Emperor is about to give his speech."

 _Emperor?_

Mae was frozen in place, her breath panting, her heart racing as the "Emperor" appeared on the screen. He was wearing the black hood her father had always described, but instead of the twisted face and the gravelly voice from old news holos, there was a face she knew far better, the sight of which nearly made her faint.

"Dad?"


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"Defenders of the Force Episode 7: The Other World"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 2

The face was Luke's. The voice talking about how the underground neo-Rebels would be hunted down and destroyed was Luke's. Even the artificial hand was Luke's. Mae's body stiffened, her breath coming out in the tiniest of pants. _This isn't real,_ she tried to convince herself. _This is a dream and I'm about to wake up._

"Hey kid!" Han's voice shouted. "Are you comin' or are you gonna wait around for more stormtroopers?"

Mae still found herself unable to respond or look away from her father's image.

"C'mon!" Han – or at least the person who shared Han's name and Force signature - shouted, now yanking at her arm. "Your friends ain't gonna be happy if I leave you behind."

The mention of the others snapped Mae out of the trance enough to follow Han to his speeder, where her cousins and Tamyra were already strapped in. Mae squeezed into the backseat, clamped between Tamyra's hip and the speeder wall.

"All right," Han said, "let's get outta here."

The rain picked up again as the speeder blasted through the sky lanes. It hammered down on the roof as if it were trying to tear through and grab those inside. Within a minute, Han made several sharp turns and dips, twisting Mae's stomach even further than it already was.

"Where are we going?" Jaina asked.

"Somewhere safe," Han said as the speeder took another sudden turn. "Well, _relatively_ safe, since nowhere's _actually_ safe from the Empire." He momentarily glanced back at the passengers before turning his focus back to the air traffic. "By the way, where'd you kids get lightsabers and why the hell were you displayin' them in public?"

Jaina and Jacen glanced at each other before Jaina spoke. "Well . . . er . . . that's a bit hard to explain."

"It'd be easier if we knew what was going on," added Jacen. "My sister was just driving us home from school and then all of a sudden those stormtroopers attacked."

"Well what kinda school lets you bring lightsabers?" Han exclaimed without taking his eyes off his driving.

"A _Jedi_ school," said Anakin.

The speeder suddenly dipped so sharply that Mae actually wondered if they were falling. " _Don't – say – that – word!"_ Han hissed.

"Why not?" asked Anakin.

"Don't you kids know _anything?"_ Han exclaimed. "If our high and mighty _Emperor Skywalker_ ever heard there were rouge Jedi about, he'd hunt 'em down and either kill 'em or turn 'em into Dark Jedi."

" _Dark_ Jedi?" all the passengers exclaimed in unison.

Han gave an irritated sigh through his teeth. "You guys _really_ ain't from around here, are you?"

"I don't think so," said Tamyra. "In fact, I think we're from somewhere _really_ far away."

Meanwhile Mae was pinching her leg over and over, digging her fingers further and further into the skin, but all she accomplished was pain. The curtain of rain outside the window was so thick that the lights outside looked like blurry suns. How did Han – or whoever he was – see through it?

She shivered, her hip slightly bumping Tamyra's. The Force signature matched her uncle's, but who was he really? Had he lured them into a trap? And what about . . .

Her breath shortened again, every blink bringing the "Emperor" into her vision. No, she tried to tell herself, it _wasn't_ Luke, it _couldn't_ be . . .

She felt Tamyra's hand gently press down on hers. "It's all right, Mae," the Mirialan whispered.

"You know it's not," Mae whispered back. "In fact, we're about as far from _all right_ as you can get."

"Okay, you're right," said Tamyra, "but that doesn't mean things are hopeless."

"My uncle somehow doesn't remember us, my _dad's_ somehow the Emperor, what the hell happened?"

Tamyra cocked her head. "Isn't it obvious? We're in another universe."

Mae's eyes bulged. Her stomach felt like it was dropping out of her body. "Wait . . . _what?"_

Tamyra cocked her head again, as if being in another universe was the most natural thing in the world. "On Mirial there are many people who believe that our known galaxy is just a small part of what's out there. They say that an infinite number of universes could exist that are similar to ours, but with many differences as well."

Mae ground her teeth. "That's ridiculous."

"Well do _you_ have a better explanation?" Tamyra pressed. "Do you think your uncle forgot all of us and your father took over the galaxy in the short time we were in Jaina's speeder?"

Mae was silent. Her preferred explanation was still that this was just a dream, but no matter how many times she pinched herself, they were still here.

The speeder dipped and turned, turned and dipped through the torrent of rain. Soon Mae lost any sense of where they were or how long they had been flying. She and the other passengers were quiet, wondering just where they were going.

. . .

The speeder finally slowed when it was so many city layers down that the rain was reduced to a trickle. They turned into what looked like a tunnel, but the tunnel gradually got wider and wider until it looked like a room, then the speeder turned into _another_ tunnel. Darkness swept over them with the only lights being those of the speeder, but Han still drove as if he had taken this route all his life.

Finally, after a few more turns and dips, there was light. The speeder landed in a large room dimly lit by lamps on the walls that gave the room an eerie glow. Several more speeders were parked in a row, all of which were dented and well worn.

"Okay kids, c'mon out," said Han, speaking for the first time in what had seemed like hours. "The others are sure gonna be interested in meeting you."

"Others?" asked Jaina. "What others?"

Han spread out his arm in a gesture towards a doorway. "Welcome to the underground resistance, formerly known as the Rebel Alliance."

. . .

Mae's heart raced as Han led the group through the corridors. What could have happened here – wherever _here_ was – that caused the Rebellion to literally hide underground? Of course, she still didn't know what could have caused her _father_ to become Emperor in whatever universe this was. She took a few deep breaths, remembering what Tamyra had said about an infinite number of universes. If that was true and they really were somehow in a different universe, then that wasn't her _actual_ father who was Emperor, just someone who resembled him. Right?

But how did they get here? And how would they ever get back home?

The corridor finally expanded into another large room, but this one was full of people instead of speeders. Some were sitting at consoles, others were eating at long tables, and still others were reading from datapads on the floor. There were even children here, many of whom were pacing around restlessly or tossing balls to each other.

It wasn't long before the group started attracting stares, then they attracted whispers. Han's glares prevented anyone from actually approaching the young Jedi, but Mae could sense strong anxiety and even fear emitting from them.

Finally they came across another familiar person. Seated at a console, eyes fixed on a screen, fingers typing away, was Leia. Her hair was cut to shoulder length and she seemed thinner than she was in their home universe. Once again, her Force signature matched that of the aunt Mae knew, but she felt no recognition. In fact, Mae wasn't even sure if Leia noticed Han's visitors.

"Hey, Your Highness," said Han.

"Hey," Leia said without looking away from the screen.

Han shifted his weight from foot to foot. "You're never gonna guess what I found."

"What?" Leia's attention still seemed mostly centered on whatever she was studying.

"Well, I found these kids gettin' in trouble with stormtroopers . . . and they had _lightsabers."_

"WHAT?" Leia exclaimed, turning herself away from the console and staring at the visitors. "And you brought them _here?"_

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because they could be Dark Jedi, that's why!"

"They were in trouble with stormtroopers for havin' _unregistered_ lightsabers!" Han's brow was furrowing. "Does that sound like Dark Jedi to you?"

Leia scrutinized the five visitors as if she were about to interrogate prisoners. Yet again, there wasn't a flicker of recognition in either her face or her emotions carried through the Force. "Who are you kids?"

Jaina gulped. "Um . . . I'm Jaina, these are my brothers Jacen and Anakin, our cousin Mae, and our friend Tamyra."

Leia's glare darted around the group. "And why would you have lightsabers?"

Jaina and Jacen glanced at each other as if they were each waiting for the other to make up a convincing story, but before either of them could speak, Han stepped in.

"They said they went to a Jedi school or somethin'," said Han, scratching his head.

" _Idiot_!" exclaimed Leia, leaping to her feet and glaring at Han. "What the hell makes you think there could be a Jedi school on Coruscant without _Emperor Skywalker_ converting all the students into Dark Jedi? Did it occur to you that this might be a trap? They could be Imperial spies!"

"We're _not_ spies!" Tamyra spoke up. "Look at me – I'm blind! Do you really think Emperor Skywalker would want a blind spy? Doesn't the Empire see anyone with a disability as inferior?"

"A clever way to avoid suspicion," said Leia. "Besides, _Vader_ had far more difficulties than just blindness."

"All right, then what are you going to do with us?" asked Anakin. "We're here, so if we _were_ spies, we could go telling the Empire where you are. So what now?"

Leia dug her fingers into her forehead. "Han, this is why I broke up with you – you never think before you act."

" _Broke up?"_ the five teenagers exclaimed in unison.

Han twisted his mouth. "Okay, the famous Princess Leia is my ex, what's it to you guys?"

" _Why?"_ said Jacen, his eye bulging. "Why would you _ever_ break up? You guys are _perfect_ for each other!"

Both Han and Leia stared at him for several moments. "What the hell?" Han muttered.

"How would you know we were ever a couple?" Leia's eyes narrowed. "You really _are_ spies, aren't you?"

"No, no," said Anakin, showing his palms as if trying to say he had nothing concealed in them. "See, we . . ."

"We read about you," Mae quickly interjected.

"How?" Leia pressed, her arms folded. "The Empire monitors the HoloNet and all holobooks."

"Yes," said Mae, hoping she wouldn't start sweating, "but not all _paper_ books. There are some _paper_ books about your old Rebellion that get secretly handed around."

"By whom?"

"People who want to spread the word," said Jaina. "People who believed in you and what you stood for."

Leia's lips curled, revealing her teeth. "Your story sounds pretty flimsy to me, but unfortunately, the one called Anakin is right – I can't just let you guys go now that you know where we are."

"So we're _prisoners?"_ exclaimed Tamyra.

"Not exactly," said Leia. "You're in _Han's_ custody until I get to the bottom of this. Also, if you would hand over your lightsabers, that would be great."

Jaina and Jacen looked at each other in hesitance, but after a moment they shrugged and gave Leia their lightsabers.

"Thank you," said Leia. "Now Han will show you where you'll be staying." She glared up at her ex. "And he'd _better_ not mess this up."

"Love you too, princess," said Han.

. . .

"Damn, other universe Mom is a _bitch_ ," Anakin whispered to Mae as Han led them down a long set of hallways.

"She probably has to be," Mae whispered back. "I mean, her _brother's_ the Emperor here." Her stomach flipped again just from talking about this universe's Emperor, but Han stopped walking before they could continue the conversation.

"Well here we are, home sweet home," Han said as the door slid open, revealing a tiny, worn down room with a bed, a table with two chairs, a small kitchen area, and a closet. "Sorry it ain't much, but we ain't exactly drownin' in money here. Make yourselves at home."

The young Jedi hesitantly entered the room as Han made his way over to the kitchen area and fetched a pack of cigarettes from the counter. After lighting one up and inhaling into it, he blew a long puff of smoke out of his mouth, bringing a rather unpleasant smell to Mae's nostrils. Tamyra was discreetly waving her fingers in front of her nose.

"Since _when_ do you _smoke?"_ Jaina exclaimed, not even bothering to hide her surprise.

Han shrugged. "Since the breakup. Helped calm my nerves when alcohol wasn't enough, then my body got addicted." He inhaled on the cigarette again as he made his way to the bed and sat down. "Doubt I'll live long enough for it to destroy my lungs, anyway. It's only a matter of time before the Empire finds out about us." He blew another puff of smoke out of his mouth. "Anyway, for the record, I don't think you guys are spies – but I don't think you're bein' honest either."

"Why not?" Jacen asked, shifting his eyes.

Han raised an eyebrow at them as he took another inhale. "Even ignoin' the fact that you got lightsabers, you guys act _really_ weird. You talk about goin' to a Jedi school – there ain't no Jedi school except the one for Dark Jedi. "You . . ." He pointed at Jacen. ". . . you called me Dad. At first I thought I just looked like your dad, but then you guys knew my name and as far as the galaxy knows, I died when Endor blew up. None of you were surprised to find Leia alive either. And _you . . ._ " He pointed at Mae, the smoke from his cigarette curling towards her. ". . . you were starin' at that holoreport of Emperor Skywalker like you'd never see him before." He took an extra long inhale on his cigarette. "You knew me and Leia used to be a thing, you were even surprised that I smoke. I ain't stupid – who the hell are you kids?"

Jaina took a deep breath. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."

Han exhaled smoke out of his nostrils. "Try me. I've seen plenty of weird stuff in my time."

"No," said Mae, her heart racing, "you _really_ wouldn't believe us."

"Again, try me."

Tamyra gulped loudly as she stepped forward, wrinkling her nose at the smoke. "Han . . ." she said slowly and carefully, ". . . I think we're from another universe."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Thanks for the reviews!

"Defenders of the Force Episode 7: The Other World"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 3

"Tamyra!" Anakin exclaimed. "What did you do that for?"

"I sense we can trust him," Tamyra said calmly. "He's a lot like our Han – except he smokes."

" _Your_ Han?" Han shouted before his voice dissolved into a rapid cough. "What – the – FUCK?" he gasped out.

"Listen, I know it's hard to take in," Tamyra explained, her voice never losing its calm demeanor, "but we're as confused as you are. Jaina was just driving us in her speeder when we suddenly crashed and the stormtroopers showed up. We don't know how or even _when_ we ended up here."

"I _said_ you wouldn't believe us," said Jaina.

"Well you're right," said Han, "I don't." He pressed the end of his cigarette into the bedpost, squishing the ashes out. "I don't s'pose you got any proof of this story?"

"No," said Tamyra, "but on my home planet of Mirial, many people believe in an infinite number of universes."

"Yeah," said Han, digging his cigarette in the bedpost, ripping the butt open. "and some people believe in ghosts."

"Well . . ." said Anakin, ". . . we've actually seen ghosts, too."

"Anakin, not helping," Mae said through her teeth.

By now Han's cigarette had shrunk down to the size of his fingernail and ashes were dropping over the edge of the bedpost. "Okay, you guys have officially weirded me out."

"Well we're all weirded out too, so we're even," said Jaina.

Mae took a deep breath. "Look . . ." she said carefully, "can you tell me something about this universe?"

Han sighed. "Might as well."

"How did . . . _Emperor Skywalker_ become the Emperor?" Mae's mouth went dry simply from admitting out loud that her father was the Emperor.

Han's fingers drummed on the bedpost. "There's no way you don't know that."

"Humor me," Mae persisted.

Han gave a longer sigh. "Well, we were on a mission tryin' to destroy that second Death Star and our _Emperor_ was with us, but back then he was . . . well . . . one of us."

Anakin nodded. "Yeah, in our universe you guys destroyed that second Death Star and killed Emperor Palpatine."

Han gritted his teeth. "Well, that _didn't_ happen here. Last time I saw our mighty Emperor in person was when the Ewoks of Endor had just agreed to help us in the battle. The kid had been actin' a bit weird, kinda on edge that Vader was gonna find us, but I just thought he was nervous, you know? So . . . you can imagine my surprise when Leia told me he had gone off to face Vader on his own."

"He thought he could turn Vader back to the light side . . ." Mae said in a hushed voice.

"Yeah," said Han. "Well . . . no one knows _exactly_ what happened, but we know he somehow killed Vader _and_ Palpatine, and instead of returning the galaxy to democracy, he declared himself Emperor and had the Death Star blow up Endor." He glanced down at his knees. "Only a few of us escaped before the place blew."

Mae swallowed. "Han . . ." she said carefully, ". . . do you know _why_ Luke thought he could turn Vader back to the light side?"

"Cause he's crazy," said Han. "Hell, maybe he was _always_ crazy. Maybe the whole thing was a cover-up and he was pretendin' to be on our side the whole time just cause he was waitin' for the perfect moment to take over."

"I'm sure it wasn't," said Mae.

"Listen," said Anakin, "in _our_ universe, Vader _did_ turn back to the light side. He sacrificed himself to save Luke and you guys brought democracy back."

"And Luke opened up a Jedi Academy," added Jaina. "We're all students there."

Han licked his lips. "Nice story," he said, "but I still got no reason to believe it. Anyway, I don't suppose you kids have parents we could send you home to?"

"Not in _this_ universe," Jacen said slowly, awkwardly shifting his eyes. "In fact, it looks like me and my siblings don't even _exist_ in this universe."

Han sighed yet again, eying Jacen suspiciously. "So . . . do I even wanna know why you called me Dad?"

The three young Solos glanced at each other for several moments, tensing up. Finally Jaina turned to Han, her eyes wide. "Well . . . see . . . where my brothers and I come from . . . well . . . our last name is . . . _Solo."_

Mae thought Han would laugh it off or accuse them of lying, but all he did was stare for several moments, as if Jaina's words had stolen his ability to talk.

"So . . ." he finally gasped out, ". . . you're sayin' I'm you're . . ."

"Yup," said Anakin, "in our world, you're our dad."

Han's breath was audible now, raspy from either the cigarette or the shock. "And . . . and who's your mom?"

"Who do you _think?"_ Jacen exclaimed. "Why do you think we were surprised to hear that you and Leia broke up?"

Suddenly Han seemed extremely interested in the remains of his cigarette. "No . . . no . . . this . . . this is just too crazy."

"I know," said Jaina, "but it's the truth."

Finally Han looked back at his children from another world. "I don't know you guys," he said firmly. "I got no reason to believe this insane story. Sides, Leia and me . . . it just . . . it wasn't . . ."

"You still love her, don't you?" Anakin asked in a matter-of-fact voice, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Well . . . so what if I did?" Han shot up to his feet and brushed the ashes off the bedpost. "It ain't _your_ business – you ain't my kids _here."_ He eyed Mae and Tamyra. "What about you two?"

"I'm not related to any of you," said Tamyra, "but Mae here is your niece."

"Niece?" Han cocked his head at her. "How's that possible when neither me nor Leia have any siblings?"

"Don't you have a brother who died when you were a baby?" Anakin pressed.

For a moment Han stared blankly at them again. "How the _fuck_ do you know that?"

"We're your kids, that's how."

"Well . . . she couldn't be my brother's daughter," said Han. "He was just a kid when he died."

Mae took a deep breath, tightening her stomach even further. "Leia has a brother too," she said in a low, soft voice. "Ask her about him."

"And I guess _you_ tellin' me is out of the question?"

"I think it's best if she tells you," said Mae.

Han gave a long, loud sigh as he headed for the kitchen area. "Well . . . okay . . . you're probably hungry, so I'll fix us a quick meal. Sorry there ain't enough places to sit – I don't get too many visitors."

"The floor's fine," said Mae.

"Kay," said Han. "As for sleeping arrangements, I got lots of blankets and nightclothes that should fit you. We collect a lotta clothes and stuff for the homeless – one of the few things we can do out in the open without raising suspicion." He eyed the bed. "And uh, sorry bout the lack of sleepin' space, but I'll sleep on the floor and you guys can decide who gets the bed."

The Solo siblings glanced nervously at each other. "I'm fine sleeping on the floor," said Jaina.

"So am I," said Jacen.

"Me too," said Anakin.

"So am I," Mae quickly added. "Tamyra, where do you want to sleep?"

"The floor's fine," said Tamyra.

Han cocked his head. "You guys sure?"

"Yes," five voices said in unison.

"Okay, if you're sure," said Han. "I'll try to find some think blankets to cover the floor." He glanced back at the guests. "And . . . we can talk about this whole other-universe stuff tomorrow, kay? I'm tired of weirdness."

. . .

Dinner passed in awkward silence, as did getting ready for bed. Han had to rummage through the closet to find enough blankets to make an adequate sleeping area and nightclothes that would fit the five of them. By the time they settled in for the night, Mae's eyelids were sticking together.

"Well," Han said from the bed, "you guys s _ure_ you're okay on the floor?"

"Yes," the guests said, again in unison.

"All right," said Han. "Well . . . good night . . . inter-universe travelers."

The instant Mae closed her eyes, she saw her father's face under that dark hood again. She gritted her teeth, breathing in and out, in and out, in and out, still hoping this whole thing was a dream. If she could just fall asleep, maybe she'd wake up at home.

Despite the many layers of thick blankets, the hard floor still poked at Mae's side. The pillow smelled dusty and the pajamas which were slightly too long curled around her heels. It seemed like only a few minutes before Han started snoring, irritating her ears.

"Well," Jacen suddenly whispered, "at least he snores like Dad."

Mae groaned. "Jacen, some of us are trying to sleep."

"You mean you don't want to talk about what's going on?" asked Jacen.

"No," said Mae. "I want to get out of this dream or whatever it is."

She felt Tamyra's hand on her shoulder. "Mae, it's all right," the Mirialan whispered. "We'll find a way back home."

Mae rolled over, facing Tamyra's direction. "How is it that you panic when you've got a lightsaber in your hand and yet you're perfectly calm when you end up in another universe?"

Tamyra dug her head in her pillow. "Do you think I'm _not_ worried? Of course I'm worried, but well . . . I've heard stories about other universes my entire life and quite frankly I'm curious about this one."

"Well what _I_ don't understand is how Mom and Dad broke up," whispered Anakin. "Even if Uncle Luke _did_ turn to the dark side, you'd think they'd need each other even _more_ then."

Mae sighed. "Do you think he'll _really_ ask Aunt Leia about her brother?"

"Probably," said Jaina. "Dad likes to get to the bottom of things."

Mae swallowed repeatedly at the thought. "Well . . . in our universe Dad told Aunt Leia they were twins just before he left to face Vader. _This_ universe seems to be exactly like ours . . . except that Dad turned to the dark side."

"Maybe that's when this universe separated from ours," said Tamyra. "On Mirial they say every decision you make influences your particular universe. There could be an infinite number of universes, each one the result of someone's choice."

"I'm getting a headache just thinking about it," said Anakin.

"Me too," said Jaina. "Let's just get some sleep. We can think about this tomorrow."

. . .

In the middle of the night, something triggered Tamyra awake. Her eyes opened to the complete darkness that meant there was no bright light anywhere. She could hear Mae snoring next to her, but not Han. Then she realized that the smoky, irritating smell of Han's cigarettes was once again twitching in her nostrils.

"Oh, sorry," Han's voice said. "Didn't mean to wake you, just needed a smoke." He gave a long exhale, making the smell thicker and more intense. "In case you didn't notice, I gotta lot on my mind right now."

"There are other things you can do to calm your mind besides smoking," said Tamyra.

"Oh really, I had _no_ idea. Next you'll be tellin' me these things can kill me."

Tamyra swallowed. "You don't know whether or not to believe us, and I don't blame you."

"Great," said Han, "got any more obvious words of wisdom?"

Tamyra rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up on her elbows, the thick smell of Han's smoke once more irritating her nostrils. "Well, in our universe you're a revered hero. My friends also say you're a fun dad."

"Fun dad, eh?" The smoke smell intensified again. "Well in _this_ world Leia hates me."

"I don't think she does," said Tamyra. "She just . . . has a lot to worry about."

"Well so do I – why do you think I smoke?" He gave yet another long exhale. "If you could see, you'd probably say I look terrible. Probably _your_ Han's all fit and handsome."

"I can hear the stress in your voice well enough," said Tamyra, tilting her head in Han's direction. "And _our_ Han's got a lot to worry about too. In fact, he was recently in the hospital after being attacked."

"Attacked? I thought you said the Empire's gone in your world."

"It is, but that doesn't mean we don't have _big_ problems. Right now we're having to deal with these underground terrorists who want to eliminate the Jedi . . . or something like that."

Han's fingers drummed on the bedpost. "Look, I ain't sayin' I believe you, but do you guys have any idea how you got here?"

"No," said Tamyra. "We told you all we know. I have a theory about _why_ we're here, though."

"Yeah? Well _why_ do you think you're here?"

"I think we're supposed to help you."

Han gave a humorless laugh. "Five teenagers savin' us, that's rich."

Tamyra shrugged. "Stranger things have happened – like five teenagers randomly traveling into another universe."

What sounded like a snicker dissolved into a cough. "Yeah . . ." he gasped out, ". . . but I still ain't sayin' I believe you."

"Well," said Tamyra, "if we really _were_ Imperial spies, don't you think we would have come up with a more believable explanation?" She gave a tiny smile. "Maybe we can at least help you quit smoking."

"Shit, I go risk my life every fucking day tryin' to help people who suffer under our Emperor – I _don't_ believe he's actually your teacher, by the way – but I get flack for _smoking."_

"Sorry," said Tamyra, "I just don't want you to have lung trouble in addition to all your other stress."

Han sighed. "Look, I'm goin' back to sleep. I suggest you do too – tomorrow you gotta tell _Leia_ your story."

"All right," said Tamyra, settling herself back down on her pillow. "Good night."

"Night."

. . .

When Mae woke up and found herself still on the floor of Han's room, she punched the pillow. Whatever little hope that this still might be a dream was rapidly fading, though she pinched her legs several times just in case. After Han served a quick breakfast during which very little was said, he led the visitors back to the main room to see Leia.

"Don't take it personally if she yells at you," Han was saying between puffs on a cigarette. "She's got a lot to deal with and . . . hey, Chewie!"

The Wookiee whom the visitors knew from their world came running up to Han in his normal manner, but once he noticed the visitors he stopped and stared at them.

"So Chewie," Han asked awkwardly, "did Leia tell you about our guests?"

Mae only knew the basics of the Wookiee language, but she was able to decipher that Leia had indeed told Chewie about them.

"So," Han continued, "do ya happen to know where she is?"

Chewie pointed in the direction of the consoles where Leia had been last night, to which Han responded, "I should've known," followed by patting the Wookiee's shoulder.

Chewie roared a greeting to the guests as he further studied them.

"It's . . . nice to meet you too, Chewie," Jaina said with a swallow.

After clearing his throat, Han gestured towards the consoles. "C'mon kids," he said, "Leia's gonna wanna hear your story."

Once they reached the console where Leia sat, the princess started waving her hand in front of her. "Ugh . . . Han, haven't I told you not to smoke here?"

"Hey sweetheart, you're the reason I'm addicted to this things, remember?" said Han. "Anyway, our _guests_ have something they wanna tell ya."

"I'm rather busy . . ."

"This'll only take a few minutes," said Han, exhaling a long stream of smoke.

Tamyra stepped forward before Leia could protest. "Leia, I'd like to tell you where we're from."

Leia groaned as she spun her chair to face them. "Fine, but make it quick."

"Just don't freak out!" Anakin interjected.

Leia was silent as Tamyra relayed their story. Her brows went up several times, but otherwise she gave no reaction to the visitors possibly being from another universe. By the time Tamyra finished, Leia's mouth was twisted, but she still remained silent.

"So . . . do you believe us?" Jacen asked.

"Do I believe you?" replied Leia. "Do I believe you? Of _course_ I don't believe you! Who in the right mind _would_ believe you?"

"Han does," said Tamyra, and Han strangely didn't protest.

"Like I said, no one in the _right mind_ would believe you."

"Well I don't expect you to believe us." Tamyra's voice was firm, cold, authoritative, as if it were coming from someone much older than thirteen. "However, the fact remains that we're _here._ I think maybe we're here because we're meant to help you."

Han cleared his throat. "By the way, Leia," he said in an awkward voice, "the one named Mae mentioned something about you havin' a brother. Do you happen to know anything bout that?"

Suddenly Leia's breath tightened. She stared at Mae as if she were glaring at a Sith. " _How_ do you know about my brother? You really _are_ Imperial spies, aren't you?"

Mae gulped several times, blinking at the floor and wishing it would just swallow her up and take her back to her own world. "No . . . but there's something else you both need to know." She gave a long, loud sigh as she looked back up at Leia, her innards feeling like they were crushing each other. "In my world, I'm your niece. My full name is Mae . . . _Skywalker."_


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"Defenders of the Force Episode 6: The Other World"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 4

"Wait, WHAT?" Han shouted, his stare going from Mae to Leia and back again. "The Emperor's _your . . ."_ He pointed at Mae. ". . . and _your . . ."_ He pointed at Leia.

Leia sighed. "Yes, _Emperor Skywalker's_ my brother. He told me right before he left to _become_ Emperor Skywalker."

"Well why the hell didn't you ever tell _me_?"

Leia groaned, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Han, there aren't many of us left. The Rebels need to be able to trust me to lead them. Are they going to trust me if they find out I'm related to the person we're fighting against?"

"That doesn't explain why you didn't tell _me,_ " Han persisted. " _I_ would've understood, you know that."

Leia gazed down at the console. "I wanted to . . . many times . . . but I guess I was ashamed of it."

Han swallowed. "He _did_ used to be our friend . . ."

"Which only makes it worse," said Leia, running the back of her hand over her forehead.

Mae breathed several times before speaking, but it did nothing to lessen the tightness in her stomach. "Look . . . in _our_ world, my father is one of the most respected people in the galaxy. He saved Darth Vader from darkness and along with you and Han, helped restore democracy to the galaxy. He and his wife run a Jedi Academy where we're all studying to be Jedi." She shifted her eyes and took a deep breath. "By the way . . . I guess you don't have anyone named Rianna Trenn here?"

"Rianna Trenn?" asked Han. "Wasn't she that Naboo Queen who went crazy?"

"Yes," said Leia.

Mae didn't know how much more twisting her stomach could take. "Went crazy? How?"

"She believed the Emperor was responsible for her planet's hardships," explained Leia. "He probably was, but she came over here and formerly challenged him to a blaster duel, and he of course won – she was dead less than a second into the duel. After that the Emperor took control of Naboo and now he makes sure to appoint rulers who are loyal to him."

Mae tried to contain her emotions and calm herself like a Jedi was supposed to, but to hear that her mother was _dead_ in this universe and hear it talked about in such a callous fashion broke through her barriers. Tears welled up in her eyes and drizzled silently down her cheeks.

"Hey," said Han, "what's wrong?"

Mae sniffed, desperately wiping the tears away, though more kept coming. "Nothing . . . nothing's wrong . . . it's just . . ." A sob escaped. ". . . in my world, Rianna Trenn's my mom."

Admitting it out loud brought the tears on in a rush. With haggard breaths, she turned her gaze to the floor as she wiped her nose with her sleeve, wishing she could just sink down into the floor and return to her old world.

Suddenly a pair of long arms wrapped around her. The body they belonged to was shorter than her, short enough for her to rest her head on its shoulder, which she did without thinking.

"It's all right," Leia's voice said right next to her ear. "It's all right . . ."

For a moment it felt like her real aunt. She almost embraced her back, but her arms didn't move aside from continuously wiping her nose and eyes. Then Han was offering her a tissue, again acting like the uncle she knew. "Th-thank you," she said in a hoarse voice once she could make herself speak again. She brushed the tissue over her eyes and blew her nose. "I-I'm sorry . . ."

"It's all right," Leia repeated.

Jaina loudly cleared her throat. "Well . . . there's some other stuff you should know." She shifted her weight from one foot to another with her hands behind her back. "I mean . . . we already told Han, but it concerns you too . . ."

"The three siblings," Han interjected. "They say that in their world . . . they're our kids."

Leia's eyes widened as she glanced around the Solo children. "Our . . . _kids?_ Wait . . . _our_ kids?"

"In our world, you and Han got married and had kids," Anakin said bluntly.

Leia scrutinized them, as if she was trying to find enough resemblances to either herself or Han to give their story credibility.

"We know stuff about you guys," said Jacen, giving the grin that resembled his father's, though now he seemed to be making it extra wide in hopes that Leia would notice the similarities. "Like I know that when you were a kid, you were always giving your bodyguards the slip so you could go exploring."

Leia's eyes grew slightly wider.

"And Da – Han," said Jaina, "I know you broke a lot of fingernails when you were a kid because you were always trying to climb trees like the Wookiees."

"And when you were a baby, your family crash landed on Kashyyyk and they all died except you," Anakin interjected. "The Wookiees knew your name because you were wearing a bib that said 'I'm Han and I'm cute' and they found a suitcase with a tag that said 'Solo' on it."

"Leia," said Jaina, "you like to put those yellow berries from Naboo in pancakes, right?"

"And Han," said Anakin, "you like three spoons of sugar and a bunch of cream in your caf."

They went on like this for several minutes, listing detail after detail about their parents. Han's favorite food growing up was Chewie's berry cake. As a teenager, Leia often got frustrated that she didn't grow as tall as her peers. Han enjoyed easy listening music. Leia liked music she could dance to. They both thought a relaxing day at the beach was a perfect vacation.

"Okay, okay," Leia finally said, holding up her palms. "I get the idea."

"Well, do you believe us now?" asked Tamyra.

Leia and Han looked at each other, then back at the visitors. "Well . . ." said Han, ". . . I'm _insanely_ weirded out here. I don't believe in this inter-universe stuff . . . but then again, I didn't used to believe in the Force thing either, and look where it got me."

Once again Leia was scrutinizing the visitors. "Well . . . if this _is_ true . . . what are we supposed to _do_ now?"

"I dunno," said Han, raising an eyebrow at Mae. "You're sayin' Emperor Skywalker _married_ that queen in your world?"

Mae slowly nodded. Her hands were cold and her head ached from crying, but after a deep breath, she found the courage to speak, though she knew what she was about to say would be taken as foolish and impossible.

"I . . . I would like to see the Emperor."

Both the adults and Mae's fellow teenagers stared at her. Even Tamyra's jaw was dropping.

"What the hell?" Han exclaimed. "You _do_ know that's suicide, right?"

"No," said Mae, "I _don't_ know that. I don't know _anything_ about your Emperor. All I know is that in _my_ world he's my father. Maybe if I could talk to him . . ."

"That's impossible," said Leia.

"Maybe it is," said Mae, "but then again, maybe there's still a little bit of my father in him. Maybe if he learns that he has a daughter in another world . . . maybe he could turn back."

Leia snorted. "You sound _exactly_ like he did the last time I talked to him. _He_ thought he could turn his father back too, and look how _that_ turned out."

"Wait, what?" Han exclaimed.

Leia sighed, her mouth twisting as she turned to face her ex. "Yeah . . . there's kind of something _else_ about my family I haven't told you about . . ."

. . .

Soon Mae found herself pacing around the base, ignoring anyone who stared at her, not caring where she was going. Her mother was dead here . . . her father had somehow turned to the dark side . . . both notions kept pushing their way into her brain, tightening her chest, making it feel impossible to focus on anything else.

"No, I'm NOT askin' her out!"

Han's voice suddenly jerked her head to the right, where she found him heading towards her, along with Anakin, who seemed to following him around.

"Come on," Anakin said, "what have you got to lose? You yourself said it was just a matter of time before the Empire finds this place anyway."

"And what makes you think I wanna ask her out after she didn't tell me about her _brother_ or her _dad?_ What next – was Palpatine her grandfather?"

"Well," said Anakin, "some people _do_ think Palpatine might have used the dark side to conceive my grandfather, but it's never been proven . . ."

"Anakin, _what_ are you doing?"

"Oh, hey Mae," said Anakin. "Why don't you help me and convince Da . . . Han to ask Leia out?"

Han ground his teeth. "I don't care what kinda universe you say you're from – I'm _not_ askin' her out!"

"But she needs you," Anakin persisted. "And you need _her._ You guys are a model couple in my universe. In fact, some shirt companies put 'I love you' and 'I know" on matching shirts and sell them to couples – isn't that cool?"

"Anakin . . ." Mae began, but she was cut off by Leia and Jaina also heading in their direction, having a similar conversation.

". . . and in my universe, when you come home from work after a long day, he sometimes gives you a back rub," Jaina was saying.

"That's nice," said Leia in a hurried voice.

"I mean it," said Jaina. "He may be a scoundrel, but he also _adores_ you. In fact, last night he indicated that he still loves you after all these years. He'd probably show it if you asked him out."

"I've told you, _no,"_ said Leia.

Mae let out an exasperated exhale as she shifted her gaze between her two cousins. "What the hell are you guys _doing?_ We're trapped in a parallel universe and we have no idea how to get home, but you're . . . playing _matchmaker?"_

"Well, Tamyra said maybe we're supposed to help them," said Jaina. "I figured we could start by getting them back together."

"Yeah," said Anakin. "They'll be better at defeating the Empire when they're not fighting all the time."

Leia and Han both glared at their children from another world. "Look," said Leia, "I've got more important things to worry about than romance."

"We both do," said Han. "Such as what we're gonna do about you guys."

Mae swallowed. "I still think I could talk to the Emperor."

"Not happenin'," said Han. "We haven't been keepin' the Rebellion alive for seventeen years to have some kid from another universe jeopardize everything."

"So let us help you," said Anakin. "We could go with you on missions or something."

"If I had my lightsaber, I could probably take on those 'Dark Jedi' you're talking about," offered Jaina.

Leia shot a sudden glare at her that looked almost terrified. "You've never met a Dark Jedi, have you?"

"No," said Mae. "What are they, exactly?"

"Are they like Sith?" asked Anakin.

Leia sighed, rubbing her fingers into her forehead. "I guess they are 'like' Sith, but the Sith only numbered in twos, while Emperor Skywalker has a small _army_ of Dark Jedi." She slowly looked up at Han. "That was one of the reasons why I broke up with Han."

"What?" Han exclaimed, his eyes bulging. "How many _more_ secrets are there?"

Leia swallowed. "Han, I know you _sometimes_ use your brain, so try using it now. My father was a Sith. My brother _is_ a Sith."

"Is he actually a _Sith,_ though?" asked Mae. "Like, does he have a Darth name?"

"They say he does," said Han, "but no one knows what it is."

"That's _beside_ the point!" Leia said in a huff. "Han, my family members are Force-sensitive. Do you know what that means?"

Han suddenly stiffened as if someone had dumped cold water on him. "You . . . _you're_ Force-sensitive?"

"Yes," said Leia, "which means any children we might have had would have been Force-sensitive too." She glanced down at her shoes. "And if they were discovered, the Emperor would have taken them and turned them into Dark Jedi." She slowly looked back up at her ex. "Do you understand now?"

Han was silent for several moments, staring at his ex, then at the children they might have had, looking like he might start yelling and then like he might start crying.

"Mom . . . Dad . . ." Jaina said between swallows, ". . . it's not too late."

Mae stepped forward. "Let us help you." She concentrated on keeping her voice calm. "I think Tamyra's right – we're here for a reason." She looked Leia in the eye. "Please, let us help you."

Leia's mouth twisted left and right as if she were preparing to spit. "Well . . . maybe you can help – if Han were willing to supervise you."

Han ran his gaze over the visitors. "Yeah, I'd look after them."

"All right," said Leia, "I think I might have an idea on how you can help."


	5. Chapter 5

AN: OMFG THE NEW EPISODE 7 TRAILER IS FREAKING AWESOME I'M SOOOO EXCITED! (clears throat) Ahem, sorry, geeked out. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing.

"Defenders of the Force Episode 7: The Other World"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 5

Leia's idea for how the visitors could help turned out to be much less dramatic than talking to the Emperor. For the first few days, they were sorting the items that were collected for the homeless, then after some coaxing from Han, they started going out to collect items for the homeless. During that time, they slowly learned more about what had happened to the Rebellion. The only survivors of Endor's destruction were Leia, Han, Chewie, the droids, Wicket the Ewok, and a handful of soldiers. The Falcon was destroyed in the battle, killing Lando and his crew with it. Since Luke knew where the Rebel Base was, the Death Star arrived at Sullust shortly afterward and wiped out almost the entire Rebellion, again with only a few members escaping. The survivors banded together and were now doing all they could to keep the Rebellion alive, but it was increasingly difficult with Luke's seemingly unlimited resources and his Dark Jedi.

As for exactly what the Dark Jedi _were,_ no one seemed to know much. They dressed in black and carried red lightsabers, much like the Emperor himself, people said. They struck quickly and quietly, people said. When they spoke, their very words brought fear to their victims, people said. Most importantly, no Rebel caught by a Dark Jedi had ever survived.

"Do you think other universe Mom was right?" Anakin was asking on their seventeenth day as they were gathering up the clothes they had collected.

"About what?" asked Mae, tying up her bag.

"Do you think we would have been made into Dark Jedi if we had been born in this universe?"

Mae shrugged. "Maybe. That's not exactly the first thing on my mind, though."

"We _would_ have been Dark Jedi," said Tamyra. "I'm almost sure of it."

"Forget that," said Mae. "We _weren't_ born here, which means our _families_ – our _real_ ones – have probably lost their minds by now."

"They probably think the Revolutionaries kidnapped us," said Anakin. "Our galaxy's probably panicking."

Tamyra gave a small shrug. "When we get home, they'll never believe us about this place."

Mae swallowed, gazing up at the orange sky. " _If_ we get home."

"We _will_ get home," Tamyra insisted. "Come on, let's go regroup with the others."

Jaina, Jacen, and Han met them in an abandoned office that Han had managed to hotwire open. The windows were boarded up, but it still didn't strike Mae as the safest place to gather when the outside world was supposed to think Han was dead.

"How'd it go?" Han asked as the trio put their bags on one of the desks.

"Great," said Anakin. "I think people like donating stuff when kids ask them."

"Well, tomorrow we can deliver this stuff," Han said as he opened one of the bags and peeked inside. "Good, you got some shoes – they've got a shortage of those."

"All right," said Jaina, slinging a bag over her shoulder, "let's head back."

The others gathered up the day's donations – except Tamyra. She was facing the open door, standing completely still, as if she were listening for something.

"Tamyra?" Mae asked.

"Shh!" Tamyra hissed, holding up her hand in a silencing gesture. "There's something . . . strange."

"Like the last seventeen days have been normal?" said Jaina.

"Shh!" Tamyra repeated. She waved her sensor through the doorway. "Can't you guys feel it? There's a tremor or something in the Force." She waved her sensor in front of her again, this time in rapid flicks. "It feels . . . _familiar."_

Before anyone could respond, she ran out of the building.

. . .

Tamyra waved her sensor around as she ran, but she hardly paid attention to its buzzes. Something in the Force was pulling her, weaving her through the crowd as if she were a fish on a hook. The Force signature was pulsing at her with an intensity she'd never felt before. _Follow, follow, follow,_ it seemed to be saying, and though it felt like no one she recognized, there was such an air of familiarity around it that her head spun.

"Tamyra! What are you doing?"

Her friends called, but she ignored. Maybe she was choosing to ignore or maybe she was compelled to . . . did it matter? _Follow, follow, follow._ What was she following? Did _that_ matter?

After several minutes, during which she completely lost her sense of direction, the Force signature's pulse exploded in her senses, after which she heard a loud gasp.

"You!" a young female voice snarled. "Who do you think you are? What's going on?"

Tamyra froze, swallowing several times. The voice . . . she knew the voice . . .

"Who . . . who are you?" she stammered.

The mysterious figure breathed several times before speaking in a low, cold voice.

"I am Tamyra Offee."

. . .

"Tamyra!" Mae kept calling as she and Anakin ducked through the hordes of people. "Tamyra, where are you?" She could feel her friend's Force signature, but there was a strange intensity to it. "Tamyra?" she called again. "Tamyra?"

"Mae?"

" _Force-sensitive!"_

Mae froze. Both voices were Tamyra's . . . _both,_ though one sounded normal and the other was . . . _cold._ She turned a corner . . . and there they were.

 _Two_ Tamyras.

One of whom carried a red lightsaber.

. . .

Tamyra's heartbeat increased when she heard the lightsaber being activated immediately after Mae's voice called her name.

"Well, well," said the voice who claimed to also be Tamyra, "two more Force-sensitives. Friends of yours?"

"Leave them alone." Tamyra concentrated on keeping her words slow and even.

Suddenly the heat of the saber was inches away from her neck, its light giving a dim penetration to Tamyra's blind world.

"Tell me who you _really_ are," the double hissed, "or I'll run you through."

Tamyra gulped. "I'm _you_ . . . but from another universe."

" _What?"_

Tamyra's forehead was sweating, the moisture drizzling down her face. "Think. The legends back on Mirial about infinite universes. It turns out that they're _true."_

There was panting coming from the double. "You're . . . you're still blind."

"Still? What do you mean _still?_ I've always been blind."

There was a second of silence, two, three, then the doppelganger spoke in a dark and yet hesitant voice. "The Emperor fixed my eyes with the dark side. I've been able to see ever since he took me as a little girl. In fact, I hardly even remember being blind." She took a step closer, though she didn't move the lightsaber. "Tell me, would _you_ like to see?"

Tamyra's sightless eyes widened. All her life, she had been told that it was impossible to see, that the problem with the sight center in her brain just couldn't be fixed. She had never known anything in front of her eyes except darkness and the occasional bit of light. She didn't even know if what she was supposed to call her darkness was the same as the darkness other people knew.

Was it possible?

Could she really see?

No . . . no . . . this was the dark side . . . no . . .

"I am a Jedi," she said in a soft voice, telling herself that more than the other Tamyra.

"No, you're not," said the other voice. "Do you know how I know that? Because only Dark Jedi exist anymore, and we never travel alone."

Suddenly, two figures whose presence she hadn't even sensed grabbed her from behind, forcing her to her knees.

"Since you can't see," the other Tamyra continued, her voice now relishing, "I'll tell you what's happening. You and your two friends have been captured. Whether your story is true or not, I'm sure the Emperor will be _very_ interested in meeting you."

Then there were blaster shots, making Tamyra's heart jump – but not out of relief that she was being rescued. "No, don't!" she shouted, but it was either too late or Han didn't heed her warning.

There were gasps.

Short, desperate gasps.

Then a thud.

"DAD!" Anakin cried out.

"Dad?" exclaimed several voices.

"Wait," said a voice that Tamyra instantly recognized as Master Uma's, "take off his hood . . . ah, look, we have ourselves a real catch today. Friends, it appears that Han Solo has come back from the dead!"

"Han Solo?"

"Han Solo?"

"Impossible – he died seventeen years ago!"

"But it sure looks like him."

"Han Solo!"

By now Tamyra was shaking – she probably would have fallen over if she weren't being held in a firm kneeling position.

"Well," whispered the double, stroking Tamyra's ear with cold fingers, "the Emperor will be _very_ interested now."

. . .

Han woke up feeling only pain in his throat and coldness biting into the rest of him. He was lying on something . . . something hard . . . what was going on? He had tried to rescue the kids from the Dark Jedi and then . . . what?

"Finally awake?"

A sharp chill ran down his body, cutting through his insides. That voice . . . the voice he once trusted, the voice that once sounded so young and innocent . . . that voice . . .

He forced his eyes open, blinked the world into focus . . . and there _he_ was. The naïve farm boy Han once knew, now wearing that black hood and staring down at Han with yellow eyes and a wicked, hungry-looking grin, like a predator about to torture his prey before devouring it.

"Hello, Han," he said, "it's been a while."


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing! This episode ended up being longer than most, but whatever. The next chapter should be the last one in this episode, then I can get back to the adventures in this series' actual universe . . . and by then I'll have seen The Force Awakens.

"Defenders of the Force Episode 7: The Other World"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 6

Han could only stare for several moments at his former friend, who still had that devious grin as if he expected Han to share in on some private joke. He shivered, curling up on the bed or whatever he was lying on, but the Emperor leaned in closer, still grinning, still looking like he was relishing in whatever tortures he was about to subject Han to.

"Th-the kids," Han forced out. "Where are the kids?"

Emperor Skywalker shrugged. "No need to worry, they're safe . . . for now." He leaned in closer. "But that's not important right now." Suddenly his metal hand was on Han's shoulder, icy even through his shirt. "What's important is that my best friend's alive."

"Wh-what?"

Without warning, Luke pulled Han into a sitting position and threw his arms around him. "Han . . . Han . . . I've missed you _so_ much."

Maybe for a second it felt like his old friend was hugging him, like the last seventeen years never happened, but Han was quick to return to his senses. " _Bantha shit!"_ he spat, shoving himself out of the embrace.

"Han . . ."

"You BLEW UP ENDOR!" Han shouted. "As far as YOU knew, you killed all of us! Oh guess what, you DID kill Lando, and Wedge, and Ackbar, and a whole bunch of others. And oh yeah, you went and took over the galaxy! What the HELL makes you think I'm just gonna be best buddies with you again?"

Luke gave a small sigh reminiscent of a parent trying to deal with a child who just plain didn't understand. "I expected a reaction like this, but Han, you need to listen."

"Listen to WHAT?" Han snarled. "Some big speech about how Palpatine was right and we were wrong and the Empire's so great and it's pointless to fight against it? Not buyin' it."

Luke sighed again. "Still have the big mouth, I see." He again placed that metal hand on Han's shoulder. "First off, I _didn't_ destroy Endor. It was Palpatine who did that."

"You're lyin'," said Han, though it was with a hint of hesitance.

"Am I?" said Luke. "Then give me one good reason why I would destroy Endor when I knew my friends were there."

"The dark side," Han spat.

Luke slowly shook his head, again looking like a parent having to deal with an unruly child. "Such a shallow view. I once thought like that too, but after Palpatine destroyed Endor and my father watched, I knew I had been foolish." He looked directly into Han's eyes with a piercing gaze. "They had to be destroyed, and I destroyed them."

Han gave a humorless laugh. "Yeah, and then you were so great and noble that you went and destroyed the _rest_ of the Rebellion and took over the galaxy outta the goodness of your heart."

Luke clasped his hands together. "What good would it have done if you _had_ destroyed the Death Star? How do you know they wouldn't have just built a third one, or a fourth, or fifth? The Imperials needed to be stopped for _good."_

Han's mouth was dry – he wasn't sure how long it had been since he last had water - but he was beginning to think that he could manage enough spit to land one on the Emperor's face. "That's funny, cause I've sure seen lots of Imperials since then."

"But I _control_ them," said Luke. "That's what the galaxy needed – _control._ The Rebellion's little quest for freedom was misguided – that's why I had to destroy their base."

Hearing his former friend talk so casually about the people he killed made Han well up what little saliva he had left and fling it out at the Emperor.

Luke's only reaction was wiping the spit off his cheek with his artificial hand – otherwise he didn't even seem to notice. "Han, I thought you and everyone I cared about was dead. The Rebellion meant nothing to me anymore."

"And that's an excuse to mindlessly kill people?"

Luke's upper lip slowly crawled over his lower one. "The war's over, Han. We have peace now because of me." A slight grin was creeping into his face. "And now that you're here, you can help me."

Han growled through his teeth, wishing he had enough strength to punch the kid in the face even though he knew Luke would probably just use the Force to push his hand away. The kid's _father_ could repel blaster fire with the Force, after all.

There was now a certain brightness in Luke's eyes, as if Han had actually agreed to help him rule the galaxy. "It will be wonderful, Han. You can be my second-in-command."

"Like _Vader?"_

Luke's eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly. " _Don't_ mention that name."

"Why not? Like _father,_ like son."

Suddenly the Emperor's mechanical hand was around Han's throat, his thumb pressing down, tightening Han's breath and bringing harsher pain to his already sore throat.

"I could kill you right now," Luke hissed, his thumb stroking his former friend's neck. "You know that, but I won't. Do you know why I won't? Because unlike you, _I_ remember being lost in a blizzard and someone saving my life."

Han swallowed, which only made his throat burn even more. For a moment, he was back in that tent, his arms wrapped around the kid, desperately hoping his body heat would keep the kid alive. He felt Luke shivering in his arms, heard him cry out to the dead Jedi.

"You remember that, don't you?" Luke whispered as he slowly removed his hand from his former friend's throat. "I know you do. Doesn't it mean anything?"

Han's eyes lowered at the Emperor, who was blurring in and out of focus. "Yeah, I remember. I remember spendin' all night in a tiny tent, freezin' my ass off, prayin' to whatever higher beings who might be out there that you'd be okay." His breath was coming out in heaves. "But that kid I saved . . . he was a different person. _He_ would never take over the galaxy . . . or operate a Death Star."

Luke's eyebrows furrowed and for a moment his eyes flared as if he were thinking about actually killing his former friend. "How many times has the Death Star been used since the Rebellion was destroyed?"

Han was silent, blinking at Luke as if he were crazy. No, he _was_ crazy, there was no way around that, any bit of his friend was gone.

"None," Luke continued. "I haven't had to use it once since Sullust."

"It's still _out there!"_ Han's voice was reduced to strained croak by now. "You still _threaten_ planets with it."

"Exactly," Luke said in a smooth voice. "All I need to do is _frighten_ people and they stay in line without me having to take any innocent lives."

"So you rule with _fear."_

"It's the _only_ effective way to rule. In a way, I have Tarkin and my father to thank. They essentially did my work for me." Luke's voice was rising, as if he were recalling a fond memory. "Since the galaxy knows what the Death Star is capable of, it will never have to be used again."

" _What?"_ Han coughed out. "Are you actually GLAD Alderaaan was destroyed?"

Luke's eyes narrowed at his former friend. "Alderaan died so the rest of the galaxy could _live._ " He cocked his head. "By the way, the boy we captured – he looks a lot like you. Is he your son?"

How was Han supposed to answer _that?_ He closed his eyes, reasoning that even if Anakin were his son in _this_ universe, he wouldn't reveal that to the Emperor. "No, I just found the kids wanderin' around."

"You're lying."

Han's eyes popped open, seeing that the Emperor's face was still, calm, confident. "The boy _is_ your son – I can sense your connection to him." A grin spread across his face – a cunning, merciless grin. "You might want to cooperate for _his_ sake . . . for _all_ their sakes."

. . .

"They've been captured! They've been captured!"

Jaina and Jacen burst into the hideout, panting and shouting, drawing the attention of all who were present. "You've gotta help us!" Jaina gasped out.

[What's going on?] Chewie roared.

"Han . . . Anakin . . . Mae . . . Tamyra . . . Dark Jedi got them," panted Jacen.

"We hid away and shielded our Force signatures so they wouldn't find us," said Jaina. "Where's Leia?"

As if summoned, Leia stepped out of the crowd, looking like she was struggling to keep her composure. "Dark Jedi?" she asked in a hard voice.

"Yes!" the twins exclaimed together.

It was as if an explosion had gone off. Chewie wailed that they needed to get their comrades back. 3PO was repeating, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear," while R2 gave a series of frantic beeps. The crowd was shouting in varying levels of hostility that they had to do something, some of whom were blaming the visitors for the incident.

Leia, however, was still. Her face was hardening, as if something long dormant inside of her had been awakened. With lowered eyebrows, she slowly made her way towards R2, her lips pressed together.

"R2," she said in her hard, determined voice, "bring up your old map of the Emperor's palace."

. . .

" _Do you want to see?"_

The double's words ran through Tamyra's head as she sat in what she presumed was a prison cell. Her sensor had been taken away and her attempts to sense her friends with the Force ran against barriers that gave off an air of hatred. She stuck her hands in her armpits in an attempt to warm herself from the persistent chill in the air, but that did little good.

" _Do you want to see?"_

Her double. Her evil double who could see only because she happened to be born in this universe while Tamyra was born in a different one. The person she could have been . . . the person she _was_ from a certain point of view. She was no more the "real" Tamyra than the other one was.

Her body shook as she lay down, curling herself into a fetal position. _"Do you want to see?"_ She blinked as if that would magically bring something – _anything_ – into her vision, but it remained as dark as ever, if the void in front of her eyes was the same as what other people called _dark._ She would never know for certain . . . and yet the _other_ Tamyra knew. She knew _light_ as something other than mere streaks in front of her eyes; she even knew what _colors_ were. She could tell _red_ from _green_ and _blue_ from _yellow_ , all from the sheer luck of being born in a certain universe.

Tamyra ground her teeth. No . . . this was wrong . . . it was just the dark side tempting her . . . right?

But why was something as simple as wanting to see forbidden? Why was it so evil just to wonder what _colors_ were?

 _Why?_

"Hello again."

Tamyra swallowed as the wave of familiarity from her double's Force signature flowed through her. "What do you want?"

"I've been thinking about the things you said." The double's voice was low with only a hint of uncertainty. "While I've never really believed those stories about other universes, I can't ignore what's in front of me." Her footsteps came closer, her Force signature pulsing. "This is so weird . . . it's like I'm looking at a hologram of myself, but it's _not_ a hologram." She smacked her lips. "You . . . you don't know what we look like, do you?"

"I don't know what _anything_ looks like."

"It must be so lonely." There was what sounded like actual compassion in the double's voice.

Tamyra shivered. "It . . . it _does_ get lonely sometimes."

"Yes," said the double, "but now that you're in _this_ universe . . . the Emperor could end that loneliness."

"I'm not interested in becoming a Dark Jedi."

The double chuckled slightly. "You say that as if it is a matter of _interest."_

"So you were _forced_ to be a Dark Jedi." Tamyra looked in the direction of her double's Force signature. "And you're _okay_ with that?"

"Is it any different from the way the old Jedi Order did things?" the double asked.

"In my world, your _Emperor_ doesn't follow that part of the old Jedi Order."

"But can he restore your sight?" the double retorted, a sharpness in her voice. "No, of course he can't, since you're still blind and all." She leaned forward so close that Tamyra could feel her warm breath. "But that can change now. Don't you want to know what we look like . . . what your friends look like . . . what the _world_ looks like?"

Tamyra's breath shortened. Her double's hand was on her shoulder, sending jolts through her being. "You want to see," she whispered. "I know you do . . . I can feel it."

Tamyra's hands were shaking as a small tear ran down her face, a tear of shame.

"Yes . . ." Her voice was barely audible, but it was full of honesty. "Yes, I do."

. . .

There was something strange about those children.

Emperor Skywalker paced the halls of the palace's prison after having knocked Han out with the Force. Perhaps the traitor would be in a better mood to cooperate when he woke up. He _would_ cooperate, one way or another. Now it was time to tend to other matters.

Such as what to do with those three Force-sensitive children.

They seemed to be in their early teens, which meant it would be more difficult to make them into Dark Jedi than if they were younger, but it wasn't impossible, especially if he gave them a choice between becoming Dark Jedi and dying.

But there was still something _strange_ about them. There was a certain distinction in their Force signatures, as if they were somewhere they didn't belong.

There was something _particularly_ strange about the human girl.

He had never seen her before, never encountered her Force signature . . . and yet something about her felt familiar, as if he _should_ know her.

Without intending to go there, he found himself in front of the human girl's cell. Well, perhaps if he questioned her, he might learn more about these strange prisoners. Of course she would lie to him, but she was a child – it should be easy to probe through her lies.

He opened the door and there she was, sitting on the bed and hugging her knees, but the instant he entered she stared up at him with blue eyes that resembled his own. She was panting, shaking, clearly terrified, yet she couldn't look away from him.

"E-Emperor Skywalker," she stuttered, sounding like she was struggling to hide her fear.

The Emperor nodded. "Yes. Now who are _you?_ Why is a nice girl like you associating with traitors?"

The girl swallowed. "I've . . . I've been wanting to talk to you."

"Really?" said Luke, cocking his head.

"Y-yes." The girl took a deep breath. "You want to know who I am? That's pretty difficult to answer, but I guess I should start with the most important thing . . ."

Luke folded his arms. "I'm listening."

The girl swallowed again, her eyes widened to the point of redness.

"Emperor Skywalker . . . I am your daughter."


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Thanks to the readers and reviewers! Sorry it took me so long to update – those TFA stories I've been writing kind of took up my attention. I was planning on having this chapter be the last in this episode, but since it's been so long since I updated, I thought I'd just go ahead and post what I had and end it last chapter.

Anyway, these stories are now officially AU (and this current episode is an AU of an AU, weird), but I'm still writing them. Just remember that these stories are "Lucas canon" only - TFA didn't happen and isn't going to happen. Episodes 1-6 and Clone Wars happened, but nothing TFA related did.

And Mae is a different character from Rey – the whole rhyming thing is a complete coincidence. No one knew about Rey yet when I created Mae.

"Defenders of the Force Episode 7: The Other World"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 7

A moment after Mae revealed her identity, she found herself pinned against the wall, the Emperor's red blade inches away from her neck, his free hand pressing her shoulder to the wall nearly hard enough to break her bones.

"What is this, some kind of joke?" Luke growled.

Mae's heart was racing so hard that it felt like it was trying to escape the confines of her ribs. "I-I'm your daughter . . . but I'm not from _this_ world." The blade's heat pulled sweat from her pores. "I'm . . . I'm from a world where you didn't turn to the dark side."

Anger flared in Luke's yellow eyes and for a moment Mae thought he would slice off her head right then, but the blade remained still. "Either you're trying to fool me, in which case I should kill you, or you're insane, in which case I should have you committed."

Mae gulped, finding that her throat had gone dry. "L-look into my mind," she whispered. "You'll see that I'm telling the truth."

Her true father had always warned her against opening her mind to others, even people she trusted. _"Once they're inside your mind, you are no longer in control,"_ he said. _"They will see everything."_

 _I'm sorry, Dad,_ she thought, _but I'm doing this to help the other you._

The Emperor's mouth twitched, making him vaguely resemble the father Mae knew. After only a moment of hesitation, he released his real hand from her shoulder and pressed it against her forehead, keeping his lightsaber held across her neck.

It was as if something was burning inside her head, its lashes stinging the inside of her skull, every flick of fire rushing a memory across her mind. Eating dinner with her family, sitting in her mother's Philosophy of the Force class, Anakin showing off his doodles between classes, the first time Tamyra explained how her sensor worked, ripping open a Fete present to reveal an Endor playset, Han teaching her how to fly a starship, playing with R2 when she was little, sitting in her father's lap as he told her the story of his artificial hand, Leia giving her a tour of the senate building, baby Owen learning how to say her name, this universe's Han puffing on a cigarette . . .

On and on and on the memories came, flashing one after the other with her mind unable to focus on any of them. The pain in her head grew, grew, grew until it felt like something in her head was about to explode.

And it stopped.

Luke's removed his hand and deactivated his lightsaber, staring at her for several moments, the movement of his chest betraying nervous breath.

"So you _were_ telling the truth," he finally said, his eyes studying her. "Very . . . interesting."

How could Mae respond now? Short gasps came out of her mouth one after the other, as if air were suddenly in short supply. She gazed up at the man who resembled her father, looking for some strand of compassion but only finding cold interest, as if she were merely some interesting specimen to be studied.

"You have no idea how you got here?" the Emperor asked, his voice as cold as his expression.

Coldness was creeping its way through Mae's body. "N-no . . ."

There was the ghost of a smile in Luke's lips. " _Very_ interesting . . ."

"Let me and my friends go." Mae tried to keep her voice steady, but she couldn't stop it from wavering.

Luke's smile widened until it looked inhuman. "Oh, I don't think so. You're my daughter from a different universe, aren't you? You don't know if you'll ever get home, so why wouldn't you want to be with your father?"

 _You're NOT my father,_ she wanted to say, but her lips wouldn't move. It was her _father's_ Force signature she felt, her _father's_ face she saw.

"I look forward to getting to know you," Luke said, his smile unfading. "I've always wanted a daughter."

. . .

Anakin didn't know how long he'd been in his cell, but no one had come to see him and the growl in his stomach had been steadily increasing. Didn't his uncle from another world at least feed his prisoners? He tried not to think of the possibility that they weren't planning to feed him at all.

He shuffled his feet against the floor. Everyone was all right . . . weren't they?

Suddenly a jolt ran through his body, nearly pushing him off the bunk. He barely had enough time to gasp before he felt another jolt. His Force senses almost automatically reached out, pushing against the dark side barriers, giving him an image of his father that made him cry out. He was only in his first year of Jedi training, but he had a strong connection to his father even in this world and he was certain of what was happening.

They were torturing Han.

. . .

"Dark Jedi," Emperor Skywalker announced from the center of the palace's area, "today, we are welcoming three very special recruits."

The stormtroopers dragged Mae, Anakin, and Tamyra by their arms into the arena, throwing them down in front of Luke. Mae slowly looked up at her alternate father, still searching for some sign of the compassionate man she knew, but only finding a face raised in pride as if he had obtained some prize piece of a collection.

"We'll _never_ join you!" Anakin shouted.

Luke only smirked at his alternate world nephew. "I think you _will._ Otherwise things could end very badly for _him!"_

He pointed towards the arena's entrance, where two stormtroopers were dragging in a barely conscious Han, whose clothes were torn in various places, revealing fresh bruises in his skin.

"Dad!" Anakin reflexively yelled.

Luke's grin spread inhumanly across his face. "So I was right – you _are_ his son."

There was an excited murmur among the Dark Jedi that Mae couldn't make out. "Y-You . . ." she stuttered, ". . . you _wouldn't_ kill Han! He's your best friend!"

Luke's smile suddenly faded. "Yes," was all he said, "he _was."_

Was that a little of the _real_ Luke coming out? "So s _top_ this!" Mae said, her body shaking. "I _know_ you can. You can still be the hero you once were."

"Don't listen to her!" Tamyra suddenly called.

Mae's head whipped over to face her friend, who was standing up straight, her sightless eyes facing the Emperor. "Tamyra, what are you doing?" Mae whispered.

Tamyra just kept facing Luke as if she hadn't heard. "Emperor Skywalker, my double in this universe said you used the dark side to fix her sight."

Now the smile was back on Luke's face – the cold, calculating smile. "Yes, years ago."

"Then I want to join you," Tamyra said. "Please, fix me. I don't care if it's the dark side - I want to see."


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Whew, this episode got MUCH longer than I thought.

"Defenders of the Force Episode 7: The Other World"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 8

"Tamyra?" Mae and Anakin exclaimed together.

Tamyra whirled around to face them. "You two can't _possibly_ understand what it's like for me. I hear everyone talk about things they _see_ and how things _look_ every day of my life and I'll _never_ know what they're talking _about._ If this Luke can fix my sight, then I don't care if he technically uses the dark side to do it."

"Tamyra, don't you realize what you're _saying?"_ shouted Mae.

"Yes," Tamyra said in a firm, cold voice before turning back to Luke, who now had an inhuman grin on his face. "Emperor Skywalker, please give me sight."

Luke gave a slow, incremental nod at her as the stormtroopers released the Mirialan. "Gladly, young one. Once you can see, I'm sure your double will be happy to teach you the ways of the Dark Jedi."

Mae shivered, unable to blink as her friend sank to her knees in front of the Emperor. "Tamyra . . ." Her voice came out in the tiniest of whispers.

Luke was squeezing Tamyra's chin as if testing its strength. "Yes, you will make a fine Dark Jedi."

"And what about my friends?" Tamyra quickly asked. "What will happen to them?"

"Oh . . ." Luke glanced over at his other prisoners, ". . . they will choose their own fates."

"And Han?" Tamyra pressed.

"They will also choose _his_ fate." The Emperor licked his lips as if his new trainee were a delicious feast. "Now . . ." He strode up to Anakin. "What will _you_ choose, young man? Do you want your father to die? Oh yes . . . I know he's your father. Perhaps not your _actual_ father, but you care enough about him for that to not matter."

"You won't kill him," Anakin gasped out. "You couldn't . . ."

With that, Luke shot his hand to the side, sending bolts of lightning through it which struck Han in the chest. Mae gasped as her uncle cried out in pain, throwing his head back. "Stop it!" she cried with the desperation of a child. "Please, stop it!"

Luke only gave a low cackle, as if his former friend's screams filled him with energy. "Make your choice, boy," he said. "I don't know if your father can last much longer."

The lightning struck again and again and again in its horrible dance, tearing through Han's clothes, cutting through his skin . . .

"All right!" Anakin finally shouted. "I'll join you!"

"Anakin, no!" Mae shouted as the stormtroopers released him.

A tear was flowing down Anakin's face as he looked back at his cousin. "I'm sorry, Mae . . . but I can't let him kill Dad . . ."

"No . . ." Mae whispered as Anakin knelt next to Tamyra. How could this be happening? In a matter of moments, she had lost her two best friends.

"And now," said Luke, striding up to Mae, "my _daughter."_

"You're NOT my father!" Mae spat.

"Come on, Mae," said Luke, stroking her chin with his cold metal fingers, "let's not bother ourselves with technicalities. I can still kill Han, after all."

"And _then_ what? If you kill him, you don't have any leverage over Anakin then."

Luke gave her a wicked grin. "Clever girl. Of course, even if I _don't_ kill him I can still make him _suffer."_ His metal fingers pinched her chin, pressing into her skin, feeling like they could penetrate her skull if they wanted to. "Now, you can join your friends and we can all be a happy family, or you can suffer the consequences." He turned to the stormtroopers holding Mae. "You may let go – she's perfectly capable of making her decision with her arms free, and after all, if she tries to run she won't get very far in a room full of Dark Jedi."

The stormtroopers obeyed, causing pain in Mae's upper arms. "See, daughter?" said Luke. "We can be polite about this."

Mae glanced once again at her fallen friends, who were now standing in front of the row of Dark Jedi, facing her as if they would help attack her if she tried to run. Her mind was racing, remembering her true father's stories about Vader and what brought him back from the dark side.

"I won't join you," she whispered, her voice quivering. "Not even if you kill Han. My _father_ taught me about the dark side and how it takes your soul."

Now Luke's yellow eyes were glaring at her. "I warn you, daughter . . ." he drew his red lightsaber, pointing it at her chest, ". . . I can be a benevolent father or a strict one."

Mae took a deep breath, though it did nothing to keep her from shaking. What had turned Vader back to the light might save Luke too.

He had to see his child suffer.

"D-Dad . . . I'm sorry . . ."

Without any warning, she dove into the blade.

And it pierced through her chest.

. . .

Meanwhile, the Emperor and his Dark Jedi were unaware that their palace was being raided. With the help of R2's maps and the element of surprise, the tiny remnant of the Rebellion proved themselves successful in taking out guard after guard, stormtrooper after stormtrooper, but still they found no trace of their missing comrades or any Dark Jedi.

Then finally, they reached the area, where rows and rows of the Dark Jedi were lined up, but none attacked.

They were all focusing on Mae's critically wounded body sprawled out on the floor.

. . .

The world was dimming in front of Mae's eyes. She was vaguely aware of people crying her name, but she could only give them a second of focus before the burning in her chest overtook everything else. Tiny bits of air came in and out of her mouth without being absorbed into her lungs. Air . . . air . . . where was the air?

"Mae . . . why?"

That voice . . . it wasn't her cousins or Tamyra . . . Mae forced herself to blink up at the blurs, slowly registering Luke's face into her mind.

"D-Dad . . ." she coughed out.

She felt his real hand on her cheek. _"Why?"_ he whispered.

"Because . . . thought I could . . . save you . . ." Her center of consciousness was sinking down, down, down, but she fought it as if she were drowning in the ocean and struggling to reach the surface. "Dad . . . don't forget . . . what you saw in my head . . ." She coughed again, her eyes closing. Death . . . she was going to die . . .

"Enough!" an old, raspy voice suddenly shouted.

With that, everything stopped. Mae blinked again, seeing Luke hovering over her . . . but he wasn't moving. Neither were the Dark Jedi, the stormtroopers, Han . . . _everyone_ was frozen except Anakin, Tamyra, Jaina, and Jacen, who were all looking around at the suddenly still crowd with shocked expressions.

"Jaina . . . Jacen . . ." Mae gasped, ". . . how did you . . . get here . . . "

"We came to save you, of course," Jacen said in a shaky voice.

"Hmm, yes," that raspy voice said. Before anyone could ask who the voice was, a Jedi ghost appeared. After blinking a few times, Mae found that she recognized the ghost from the old Jedi holos.

"M-Master . . . Yoda . . ." she whispered.

The ghost nodded. "Mmm, yes."

"What's going on?" Jaina demanded. "Why is everyone frozen?"

"Wrong, nothing is," said Yoda. "Between moments, we are."

"Did you send us here?" Anakin asked.

The ghost nodded again. "Many universes there are. Some where you exist, some where you do not. My counterpart in your universe, suggest this he did. Put to the test soon, you all will be, stronger you need to be."

"Counterpart?" Tamyra breathed. "You can communicate with your doubles from other universes?"

"Many things are possible in the Force." Yoda's face scrunched as he turned from Mae to Anakin to Tamyra. "And much stronger you all need to be. You, Tamyra Offee . . ." He pointed at Tamyra. ". . . succumb to _temptation_ you did. Saw opportunity in the dark side you did, without caring about consequences."

Even from the floor, Mae could see the Mirialan shivering.

"And you, Anakin Solo," Yoda continued, pointing at Anakin, "succumb to _fear_ you did. Much like your grandfather, too afraid of death you were."

"I was trying to save my dad," Anakin mumbled.

"Try to save him you did, but the _cost_ you did not consider," Yoda scolded before turning to face Mae. "And you, Mae Skywalker, succumb to _impulsivity_ you did. Rush you did without thinking things through and stabbed it got you."

Mae gasped out in pain. "I-It . . . doesn't matter . . . soon I'll be a ghost like you . . ."

"No," said Yoda. "Home you all are going, and healed you will be."

"You're going to save her?" Tamyra exclaimed.

Yoda nodded as if it were the simplest thing in the world to save someone who had been stabbed with a lightsaber. "Time to return to your own universe, it is."

"Wh-what about everyone _here?"_ Mae forced out. "What . . . what's gonna happen to them?"

Yoda merely clasped his hands together. "That is for _them_ to decide."

. . .

"Hey! HEY! C'mon, don't do this, wake up already!"

Mae's eyes fluttered open, suddenly realizing the pain in her chest was gone and her face was wet.

Wet . . . it was raining . . . just like the night of the speeder crash that sent them to the other universe . . .

"Jaina, I can't believe it! Your father lets you borrow his speeder and you crash it!"

Leia's voice! With that, Mae shot up to a sitting position, bringing a wave of dizziness to her head, gradually realizing that she, her cousins, and Tamyra were all on the street right next to the crashed speeder and their families were hovering over them.

"Mom! Dad! Owen!" she shouted.

With that, Rianna practically dove down on her daughter. "Mae, you have _no idea_ how much you guys scared us!"

Mae threw her arms around her mother – her _living_ mother. "That's nothing compared to how scared _I_ was, trust me."

"Hey Mae, what was it like to crash a speeder?" Owen asked.

"Painful," said Mae.

Meanwhile Jaina was looking around in a confused manner. "So let me get this straight . . . it's still our birthday?"

"Course it is," said Han. "You guys weren't in a coma for weeks or anything like that."

Tamyra swallowed as she glanced around. "Well, something _weirder_ happened to us."

"Like what?" asked Luke, Jedi Master Luke, never-the-Emperor Luke.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," said Anakin.

Luke gave an interested smile. "Try me."

Mae swallowed. "Well, it's a long, _long_ story."

The adults were all glancing at each other as if wondering if they should call the hospital. "I'll tell you what," Luke finally said, "how about we all go home and get dried off and then you can tell your story."

"Er . . . I guess that'll work," said Jaina.

Mae gave a reluctant nod as Luke helped her to her feet. Telling the story wasn't going to be easy.

But then again, when compared to inter-universe travel, how hard could it really be?

. . .

The children had disappeared, Han had been sent to medical attention, the Dark Jedi, stormtroopers, and Rebels had left the arena. Emperor Skywalker was left sitting on the floor, staring at the spot where his daughter from another universe had vanished. Maybe they had returned home, maybe she had died, maybe he would never know what had happened.

Her memories swirled around in his mind, memories of a life that could have been but never was. A family he never had, a family that existed _somewhere_ with another version of himself but not _here._ Why did _that_ version of himself get the happy ending but not him?

"Luke?"

He looked up and there was his sister, peering down at him.

"What do you want?" he muttered.

Leia swallowed. "The same thing I've wanted for seventeen years. The same thing we _all_ wanted. I want you back."

"Do you think those children made it home?"

Leia swallowed again. "I hope they did."

"My daughter," Luke whispered. "I could have had a daughter . . ."

Leia could only nod. "Yes . . . you could have. Those children showed us all what _could_ have been."

"And now they're gone." Luke felt his eyes moistening for the first time since he couldn't remember when. "What do I do now?"

Leia took a deep breath, slowly lowering her hand and opening it to her brother. "Well . . . you could come home."

Luke stared at his sister's hand. Even now, after all he had done, after he had betrayed her and Han and the entire Rebellion . . . why was she offering her hand now? The tears in his eyes fell one by one as he looked up at his sister, gazing into her forgiving eyes.

He took her hand.

TO BE CONTINUED

AN: Whew, episode over. The next episode will start in December – NaNo's coming, after all.


End file.
